I loved this white sweater…until the day it met an untimely death by spilled black coffee. The sweater may not be wearable but it still has some life in it. What better way to memorialize a beloved sweater than by turning it into a home accessory?
This was a quick little Sunday afternoon project using a couple of items that would have otherwise gone into the dumpster. The old bath towel was leftover from when I replaced all my towels this year and the sweater with the coffee stained sleeve was no longer wearable. So why not put the two together?
To make the bolster, I started creating a roll out of the towel. I laid the towel flat on a table, folded it in half lengthwise, and then tightly rolled it up. Once I had the towel rolled, I measured how much of the sweater material I would need. First, I cut the sweater up the sides, then I placed the rolled up towel on one half of the sweater and wrapped it around the towel. I was able to get a sense of how much of the sweater I would need and so I cut off the excess.
After the sweater fabric was cut to size, I wrapped it around the towel and pinned it along the seam. I removed the towel, stitched along the seam, and then turned it right side out. This basically gave me a tube into which I could slide the towel. With the towel inside the tube, I secured the sides by hand sewing them closed. If I had been using a fabric that wouldn’t unravel, I could have forgone the stitching on the sides and instead tied it off with a decorative ribbon.
And that’s all it took to complete this super simple project using discarded items!
Images: Jason Loper
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Emi & Nathan's Natural History
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sprout Side Table
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
sorry ..but I dont get this post...
it looks like a giant tampon
This doesn't work for me - sorry :(
Um...no. Yes, one CAN use an old sweater to make a pillow...but not this one. It's pretty unattractive and lumpy :(
I was skeptical, apparently with good reason.
Maybe the picture just isn't doing it justice? It's a bit of an odd angle and the bigger pillow takes the focus.
yeah, this just looks like a rolled up towel on your bed. Maybe you were going for function more than aesthetic??
For the best results, I'd use a bolster pillow form from the fabric store. Sorry, I think the idea is great, but the execution could use a little fine-tuning.
functional and recycled. nice job :)
this is just goofy!
Bleach the sweater and wear it again.
Just as attractive would have been a sweater-and-skirt ensemble...
I have a friend who's wanting to make some pillows, and when I saw the title I thought "I'll forward this to her!" But then I saw th photo... so... no I won't.
ps - Zola, you made me laugh out loud!
Maybe AT posts stuff like this, sits back, and says, "Man, the comments to this one are going to be really funny!"
...and zola didn't disappoint...very funny!
no.
was this post a joke?
Sorry, I'm with everyone else here...
I love the sweater material for a pillow, but a tiny lumpy one?
haha. a bit early for April 1st.
Don't invite anyone over, they'll pick it up and say "what the hell is this?" and you'll say "oh... a pillow..." and they'll say "no really, what is this thing!?"
This would look GREAT on yesterday's diaper ottoman!
Really...was this a last-minute attempt to get something posted? There are times when you can combine two completely random objects and get something spectacular. This really isn't one of those times.
I have to agree with Zola. Sweater pillows can look really great. This one does not.